 Abundance of food, however, eventually proved to be the undoing of the Waitaha, for it attracted other invaders to dispute their possession.About the year 1500 they were destroyed or absorbed by invaders from the East Coast of the North Island, the Ngāti Mamoe tribe.Within 125 years, they occupied the whole east coast of the South Island, including Otago and Southland, where they drove the Waitaha into the back country of the lake district.